DENVER ? The WAC men’s tennis teams have concluded their Fall seasons and will take the month of December to prepare for the Spring season to start in January and February.
PLAYER OF THE MONTH ? Boise State’s Clancy Shields has been named the Western Athletic Conference Tennis Player of the Month for November. This is the first Player of the Month honor for Shields this Fall season.
Shields, a junior from Grand Junction, Colo., (Grand Junction), qualified for the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s Indoor Tennis Championships in Columbus, Ohio, on Nov. 1-4 after finishing as a Wilson/ITA Mountain Region finalist. Shields topped the No. 8 ranked Andre Begemann of Pepperdine in a convincing 6-2, 6-4 first-round match to advance in the main singles draw. In the second round of 16 the No. 38 ranked Shields faced No. 19 rated Daniel Vallverdu of Miami, dropping a well-fought 7-6 (4), 6-4 match.
Other men’s tennis nominees included: Siddharth Alapati of Fresno State won his second singles title of the Fall season after claiming the Flight 2 singles draw of the UNLV Rebel Classic in Las Vegas, Nev., defeating Conor Smith of Arkansas in the semi-finals before topping Fresno Pacific’s Marco Foelz in straight sets in the final .... Andreas Weber of Hawai’i defeated No. 36 Matt Bruch of Pac-10 powerhouse Stanford (3-6, 6-4, 6-3) in Wailea, Maui ... Gustave Diep of New Mexico State went 4-0 in November en route to winning the singles championship at the ASU Thunderbird Invitational, defeating two opponents from Arizona State and Arkansas’ Christopher Nott in a three set thriller before topping Middle Tennessee State’s John Peers, 6-4, 6-2 to capture the title.
SHIELDS BROTHERS COMPETE IN ITA INDOOR TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS ? Boise State’s Luke Shields and Clancy Shields earned spots at the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s Indoor Tennis Championships hosted by Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. The Shields’ brothers were two of 32 singles players competing in the four-day tournament.
Luke Shields, ranked No. 5 in the NCAA’s pre-season fall poll, earned his way to the championships after winning the Wilson/ITA Mountain Region Championships over his younger brother Clancy. The senior entered the tournament as the No. 7 seed and faced No. 94 rated Dalibor Pavic of Drake University in the first round of play. Shields dropped a tough match 4-6, 6-3, 6-3, sending him to the consolation bracket. On the second day, Shields took on No. 2 ranked Steve Moneke of Ohio State, falling in a 6-2, 6-4 decision, leaving him 0-2 at the tournament.
The No. 38 ranked Clancy Shields qualified for the championships in Ohio after finishing as a Wilson/ITA Mountain Region Finalist. In the first round, the junior took on the No. 8 ranked Andre Begemann of Pepperdine and topped him in a convincing 6-2, 6-4 match. In the main draw, Clancy faced No. 19 rated Daniel Vallverdu of Miami in the second round, dropping a well fought 7-6 (4), 6-4 match, exiting the tournament with a 1-1 record.
The two losses ended the Shields’ brothers run at the 2007 ITA Championships as well as their 2007 fall season.
SIWY AND VEEREPALLI REPRESENT FRESNO STATE AT ITA REGIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS ? Fresno State junior Rudolf Siwy opened up ITA Regional competition in Malibu, Calif., defeating Ryan Mayer of UC Irvine 6-3, 6-3 in straight sets. Siwy went on to beat Philip Therp of UC Santa Barbara, 6-1, 6-4, to advance to the round of 32. In the third round, Siwy took a tough loss in the main draw to San Diego’s Dean Jackson, when he fell 7-5, 6-3.
Sophomore Tejesvi Veerepalli started out the ITA Regional competition with an opening round loss to UC Santa Barbara’s Bijan Hejazi, placing him in the consolation bracket for the remainder of the tournament. Veerapalli bounced back to defeat Renzo Maggi of Loyola Marymount, 7-5, 6-2, to advance to the second round of consolation. He won his second-straight match in the consolation rounds, in a narrow defeat of Bruno Alcala of Arizona, 7-5, 7-6. Veerepalli breezed through the quarterfinals and semifinals, and then beat Arizona’s Jay Goldman in a super-tiebreaker to complete his run of six-straight wins to claim the singles consolation title.
FRESNO STATE FRESHMAN CAPTURES TWO TOURNAMENT TITLES ? Fresno State freshman Siddharth Alapati captured the Flight 3 singles title in the Bulldog Classic in Fresno, the first tournament of his collegiate career, when he ousted Cal’s Nicolai Horgen 6-2, 6-4, finishing the tournament 4-0 in singles.
Alapati won his second singles title of the fall season after beating Fresno Pacific’s Marco Foelz in straight-sets of the Flight 2 final at the Rebel Classic in UNLV on Nov. 4, finishing the fall season with a record of 8-1.
HAWAI?I’S HEINEMANN AND WEBER SHINE AT HONOLULU FEATURES ? Hawai?i junior Sascha Heinemann and sophomore Andreas Weber qualified into the main draw of the pro circuit tournament after making quick work of their opponents. Both Heinemann and Weber received first-round byes in the qualifying singles draw. No. 50 Heinemann blanked Canadian Ehsan Arman, 6-0, 6-0 in second-round action, while Weber dispatched Nikola Petrov of Bulgaria, 6-1, 7-6 (5).
Top-seeded Heinemann then dropped Hong-Tae Kim of Korea, 6-4, 6-2 in third-round action to qualify for the singles main draw. Sophomore Weber also qualified for the main draw after dropping American Patrick Frandji in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2.
Andreas Weber advanced to the second-round of the main singles draw when he ousted American Brad Lum-Tucker in straight sets, 6-3, 6-1, as teammate Sascha Heinemann fell in a 6-2, 6-1 decision to Dennis Lajola in the first round. Weber dropped a tight three-set match to eighth-seeded Christoph Palmanshoffer of Austria, 5-6, 6-3, 7-5, snapping his three-match winning streak and eliminating him from tournament action.
IDAHO SIGNS DOMINANT KANSAS PLAYER ? The Vandals bolstered their roster with the addition of Kansan Taylor Bieberle, who will join Idaho next fall from Clafin High School. To date, Bieberle has compiled a 92-4 record at Clafin and helped lead his team to a state championship last season as a junior. In his freshman and sophomore years he took home the regional singles titles and finished third in the state of Kansas. As a junior, Bieberle improved to a second place finish in the state singles tournament. Bieberle will hit the courts with Idaho as the Vandals kick off their 2008 Fall campaign.
GARCIN FINISHES STRONG FALL SEASON FOR WOLF PACK ? Nevada sophomore Laurent Garcin reached the finals of the Chandler Cup hosted by California in Berkeley, Calif., Oct. 26-28. On his way to the title match, he knocked off Loyola Marymount’s Sam Tadevosian, 6-1, 6-3, before making quick work of the No. 3 seed Andy Kuharszky of Washington, 6-3, 6-2, to advance to the quarterfinals. Garcin moved into the semifinals after topping Sacramento State’s Kiryl Harbatsiuk, 7-5, 6-4, and marched on to the title match after beating Patrick Fischer of Washington, 7-5, 7-6 (4). Garcin then fell in straight sets to Cal’s Bo Katsarov, 6-3, 6-3, to end his tournament run and finish in second place.
Garcin also earned a spot in the championship match of the Pacific Invitational in Stockton, Calif., Nov. 2-4, before losing in three sets in the finals.
NEW MEXICO STATE’S DIEP WINS ASU THUNDERBIRD INVITATIONAL ? New Mexico State sophomore Gustave Diep went 4-0 in singles play en route to winning the singles championship at the ASU Thunderbird Invitational. Diep defeated two opponents from Arizona State and Arkansas’ Christopher Nott in a three set thriller before defeating Middle Tennessee State’s John Peers, 6-4, 6-2, to take the title. Diep finished the Fall season with a 10-5 singles record and an 8-4 doubles record.
UTAH STATE’S ASPLUND BEATS NO. 6 RANKED SASCHA KIEHNE ? Utah State freshman Jakob Asplund defeated No. 6 Sascha Kiehne of Weber State on the first day of action at the University of Utah Invitational on Oct. 11. Asplund defeated Kiehne, 7-5, 6-1 in the round of 32, but eventually fell to BYU’s Thomas Shubert, 6-2, 6-0, to be eliminated from tournament action.
WAC TOURNAMENT TO BE HELD IN LAS CRUCES ? This season, the Western Athletic Conference Tournament will be held in Las Cruces, New Mexico on the campus of New Mexico State, April 24-27. The 2007 champion, Boise State, will look to win its fourth-straight title. Last season, the host Boise State took the title at the Appleton Tennis Center in Boise, defeating second-seeded Fresno State, 4-0.
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